4 teens plead not guilty to killing USC student

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four teenagers have pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the fatal beating of a 24-year-old University of Southern California graduate student from China.

Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani says that 19-year-old Jonathan Del Carmen and 18-year-old Andrew Garcia along with two others under the age of 18 entered their pleas Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

Prosecutors allege the four attacked and beat USC engineering student Xinran Ji at around 1 a.m. on July 24 as he was walking home to his south Los Angeles apartment.

Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty against Del Carmen and Garcia.